The Blog

Exporting to South Korea?

Companies placing or aiming to place chemical substances in South Korea will need to fulfill certain requirements in order to avoid penalties or fines. As for example, the first thing companies should do is to screen their substances and identify which ones are belong to the existing chemicals under K-REACH; and which ones to the new chemicals and PEC list of substances. Once they have screened their substances portfolio, will need to fulfill certain requirements depending on which group the substances are belong to.

This said, here are the main requirements companies should understand:

For existing chemicals, and new chemicals: companies manufacturing, importing or selling a new chemical or more than one ton per year of an existing chemical in South Korea, shall report its previous year’s volumes until the 30th of June, of each year;

For New chemicals & PEC substances: New chemicals and PEC substances need to be registered before they are placed on the South Korean market.

What are the fines for non-compliance with the K-REACH?

According to Art.50 (Penal Provision) of K-REACH: ” Companies falling under any of the following situations:

i) Manufacturing or importing of new chemicals, or existing chemicals that are subject to registration without registering them or by registering them in a fraudulent manner in violation of Art.10 ( Registration of Substances); shall be imprisoned for not more than five (5) years, or fined with no more than 100 millions won”

ii) Companies that have not reported their volumes or has reported them such in a fraudulent manner in violation of Art.8, shall be imprisoned for not more than three (3) years or fined with no more than 50 millions won.”